FlameMoon Goddess
by Romm
Summary: How does an ancient spirit know Piccolo? Why is he freaking out? Is she a Demoness or Goddess? dead
1. In The Beginning

Flame-Moon Goddess

Disclaimer Ok, this is my first written fic. Forgive me all powerful and despised flamers (along with everyone else…). This is, like all fan-fic, semi-A/U (alternate universe). This first chapter is just the legend/mythos for the story written as a narrative by the main character. It's the next chapter where the present tense will begin, I hope. Oh, and even if it doesn't look it, it will become a DBZ fan-fic. 

Yay. Go me.

Let the show begin boys and girls.

They say I was born of the equinox fire when the full moon rose. From a single ember the flames rose, from the darkness my moon rose, as did I. I danced among the flames, the living flame of the moon among her brethren. The first thing I can remember is the full moon hanging so close in the sky, and the bonfire about me. Then the women about the fire began to call to me, they begged me to leave the flame that was my womb and dance among them. They named me goddess, childe of the spring equinox, of the full moon, and of the bonfire. So I left my home among the flame. I went to them, and the purity of my flame danced about them. 

They called to their mates, to their sons and fathers, "Come, come see the goddess of living flame that dances among us, given flesh by the moon!" So they came and looked upon me in my newborn glory. They saw not the glory of life; they saw the dark lower flames and were overcome. They raised their hands to me, and to those that shielded me and I sensed their intent. From my flesh I drew the icy flame of the light upper and lower fires, the patron of virtue, chastity, and loyalty. It is the blue flame that smites those taken by the lower darkness and draws those of pure flame to me. I smote them and they fell to the azure blade.

The women cried unto me, "You have cursed and blessed us, those that were of the dark have died, yet they were the most of us, how will we live?"

I was foolish in my youth, as I considered those that remained and made my decision. They that were left of my people were the pure, mostly women, a few bright men, and the children. I saw that they would not be able to live without protection, from both the cold of their lives and the surrounding tribes. I gave unto them the power of flame; the fuel of their souls would burn both in the spirit world and the physical. They delighted in their fires, and they prospered. I left them to wander the Great Forest that covered the land, I returned to my fires. I could hear their voices from my flames. So I slept, the moon waned and waxed upon the equinox. It came to its peak, the fullest moon, and I reemerged. They had built an eternal fire, a seam of coal that would burn for a hundred years, my portal. They had built their homes about it. I was reborn into ruin.

My people had been destroyed, doomed by the blessing and curse I had given them. The village of my people had grown to enormous size, then been destroyed. Their fires had lit them from within, but humans are not meant to burn with the fiery magnificence of the gods. Their fuel, their souls were burnt away, and they wasted. They lorded their gifts over others, and were despised for it. They grew great spending their souls on the unnecessary things, then when those they oppressed struck back the fire they relied upon went out. So my people died. 

I learned from my mistake. Never again would I gift humans with the fires of my soul. I destroyed the remnants village, called the fires of the earth to the surface. Then I waited for the surface to cool, and replaced the life I had destroyed. I drifted from the knowledge humans, hid myself from them, till only those that burned brightest knew of me. I walked the lands in human form, quenching the physical appearance of my physical flame to watch the rise and fall of the humans that had drawn me from my resting place. I traveled through the lands, until I came to my doom. It was a city, decimated by the plague. Not unusual at that time. What was unusual were the wizards, the witches, magic users. They had been paid to protect the city from all comers. Even from the disease inherent in humanity. 

              Everyone needs someone to blame I suppose. They decided to blame me. A bit of nasty coincidence that a virulent fever would decimate the population as soon as I made an appearance, certainly I had nothing to do with it. If I wanted to destroy humanity I would cover the world in fire, not befoul it with diseased corpses. When the magi looked desperately for a scapegoat they started blaming spirits. Lucky for them I suppose that I was there for them to blame. Even luckier that it was the autumnal equinox, and a new moon. I wonder if Fate dipped her chilly hand in to prevent me from destroying them for their insolence. As it was I was only able to purify a quarter of their number before they forced me to embers. They couldn't kill me; only place me in the embers of the world, stone. 

I'm calm, I keep on telling myself that. All things must come to an end. Even stone will burn. I'm content, contained, and calm. Maybe if I say it enough I'll believe it. It's so cold, so dark. I can't see the flames anymore, not even the one inside. It's so dark, so cold. Where are the flames? Where is the moon? I can't see it from here… Even stone must burn. It will burn as the earth does. Once again, I shall live to see that which I watched and had some affection for destroyed. Cold, I'm…. dimming… so dim… cold… no…      


	2. Rude Awakenings

Flame-Moon Goddess Chapter2

Rude Awakenings

Usual disclaimer, Kami knows you've seen enough of them, make it up yourself

Just to say, since it might get confusing means thoughts, you could consider the whole first chapter in them, but as there was no other people present there was no need. 

Thank you Lyonette, you have no idea how greatly that bolstered my ego. I'll try and keep this going at that standard, but feel free to yell at me if I go sub-par.

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            No… I refuse… fight… Light! I can see it… The sun! O' great flame! YES! Freedom! I am free! They will pay! I am free! The stone burns! It cracks! The world remains! I see land and life! It is not the End! Now is MY time! 

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            Fists and feet met flesh. Ki flashed across the desert and the ground rumbled. Whipping winds blew away parched soil from the ground, dust devils formed and dissipated in the craters created by the bodies of the combatants. Here and there a rock poked from the surface of the desert. One looking closely at some of the rocks would have seen faint chisel marks, evidence of some human civilization that had risen and died in this location. The fighters were never close, or slow enough to peer at the shattered rocks about them. Even then, neither was especially similar to the human race, one being a half-breed, the other only a naturalized citizen of earth. A body slammed into the ground once again, breaking the earth and sending great cracks rippling through the crust of the soil.

            "Good hit, but you've been slacking, I'll return you the favor." The being on the ground leapt up into the air to continue the spar. He made good on his promise, as a score of blows, and a fraction of a second later, his partner slammed into the same spot. The cracks that had begun with the first blow widened and as the young halfling stood the ground beneath his feet failed. He fell a few feet then caught himself upon the air; dust rose about him, and then was vaporized by his aura.

            "Hold on a sec Piccolo-san, this place is unstable." Dust slowly cleared, rotted wood and gravel had settled to the bottom, surrounding a large object in the middle of what appeared to be a cavern. "I wonder what this is…" the teen mused as he reached out to clear away the rubble.

            "Gohan we came out here spar and train, not to play about with big friggin' rocks under the ground," Piccolo growled as he drifted down into the hole. Gohan glanced back at him as he cleared off the last of the debris, allowing sun to shine upon the surface. The boulder seemed to gleam in the sun. It was large and had swirled colors covering the entire surface, a bizarre mix of reds, blacks, and whites with blue flecks scattered through out.

            "We've got to check it out sensei, remember the last buried thing that caused trouble? The entire planet was destroyed during the Buu incident. See there's writing on this…" He gestured to some thin spidery runes that were lightly etched into the side of the rock.

            "Hmpf, looks kind of familiar," suddenly he tipped his head to the side and frowned, "Did you hear that?"

            "Hear what?"

            "A kind of cracking sound…" the frown deepened, "Step back, there's no reason to take any chances," Piccolo raised his hands and began gathering his energy.

            "What? Wait!" Piccolo releases the energy blast and Gohan is thrown back from the boulder by the edges beam. The red-black boulder heats, flares to white hot, and then burns to ash in a matter of seconds. A scream emerges from the heart of the flame, it's not pain, and it's not sorrow. The best way to describe it would be a scream of happiness, just the joy to fill ones lungs and release.

            "Free! I dance in the flame of life once again!" Laughter echoes in the chamber as the freed goddess dances in her delight. Gohan's jaw drops as he stares in amazement. Piccolo's eye's widens and his hands slowly drop as he stares uncomprehending at the woman before him. She turns to him and smiles. Hair rises like flame above her, blue to red-orange, her eyes glisten blue, insane and wild. "Ah, brother, I should have known you would rescue me in the end! You will be thanked properly in time, as my flame fly's bright, until then a gift," in a blur of light she approaches and places a kiss on his cheek with an impish smile. "Good day brother…" She is gone, leaving a heat trail behind her.

            "Impossible, it's impossible, she died, she's dead, she died long ago…" whispers Piccolo as he stares in the direction she flew, "They all died… how…?"

            Gohan stunned stands and walks over to his teacher. He blinks and looks about him, at the dent in the floor that once held the stone, the dark carven, a cavern that he now observes has writings upon the wall as well, and at his teacher who is muttering and whispering to himself in shock. Gohan takes a deep breath and looks about again. Looking at his teacher he asks in a hushed voice, "Just what the hell was that?"

            Piccolo blinks and seems to come to his senses, "Someone who by all rights should be dead. She had any number of names, I can't remember if she ever expressed a preference for any of them. Vlammen Maan, Chama Lua, Incendiar, Ardent Lune, Mond Gottin, Manvarv Gudinna, you can take your pick of any of them really… She is, was… a goddess as far as I could tell. I could have sworn she died a long time ago, a little after when my father first split from Kami. I believe that I met her before Kami and Daimyo split," he pauses, shakes his head, "All of the old gods died out, not enough believers still worshiping, giving spiritual energy, there shouldn't be any way that she could still be alive."

            "Unnnhuh… ok, so she's an um, goddess. What was she doing in that rock? Was she in that rock?"

            "How the fuck should I know? Track her down and ask her yourself!"

            "Um, right, I guess." Gohan blinks, and glances from his angry teacher to the light drifting in from above, the motes of dust in the air glowing like flames. Or a celestial finger. Celestial, goddess, I didn't think there were even such things as goddesses on earth, spirits maybe but… gods? Oh crap… He begins to shift nervously, earning the glare of the disturbed and irritable namek-jin. "Piccolo-san, what… what are we gonna tell Dende-sama and everyone else?" Piccolo's eye's widened.

            "Oh fuck."                          


	3. People Are Still People

Flame-Moon Goddess Chapter3

People Are Still People

Blah, disclaimer, I don't own anything, if you steal my characters for anything but I comedy I spam the life outta yah… Two fan-fics, one head… ouch, which one was I trying to write?

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            Ground crackled beneath her as she let the waves of superheated air carried her along. The end of the desert appeared before her and she smiled. Swooping lower she landed on the edge and stood looking at the scrubby foothills with their twisted stunted pines. Frowning she turned to orient herself by the mountains in the distance. Strange, there should be the edge of the great forest here, no desert behind me, destruction of the city? Shaking her head she seemed to throw off whatever troubled her. The movement of her head caused her hair to flutter in nonexistent wind. She smiled and reached up and pulled a lock down to examine its color… It was bright blue, fading into the orange yellow of flame. "This will not do. I must gain power once again, blend in with the humans. Red." Her hair seemed to flicker; the orange rose from the tips and covered her entire head, then began to darken. It became the color of a bloody sunset, then darkened further into a dark brown almost black that glistened with red highlights. Smiling she released the lock she held, the hair moved on it's own, coiling upon her head. 

            "What next, a plan, that's what I need," she pursed her lips and began counting items off on her fingers. "Kill the ones who trapped me. Regain my power. Find some suitable worshipers. Thank the Green Brother. Visit King Kami. Find out what year it is." She blinked, then thought about that last task, "No, that's unneeded, people will be people no matter how long they have lived." Waving the sixth task off she clapped her hands together, "Now, what to do first? Ah! Worshippers!"

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            Vegeta growled as he destroyed another mechaniod training bot. Stupid Kakarrot, off catering to the whips and whims of his pathetic mate, he could be training! More blasts were heard as the rest of the bots were disposed of. Vegeta glared about the gravity room, searching for more things to destroy. Humph. Useless, how can I get any better than that baka if I don't get any decent training. He walked to the door and exited, picking up a water bottle from the cooler the woman had left by the door. He swaggered over to the large dome with its adjacent garages, opening a door to the main complex he smirked, "WOMAN!" he bellowed at the top of his lungs. Suddenly a speaker descended from the ceiling. Vegeta blinked, this was unexpected. Written in tiny letters on the side of the speaker were the words "Super Ultra Jack Amp with Extra Bass: when you want the entire neighborhood to know what you're listening to, guaranteed to wake the dead!" There was a slight noise of feedback as the giant speaker turned on. Vegeta winced at the whine but continued to watch interested in what was going to happen next. 

"**_ VEGETA_**!!" You'd be surprised at the decibel level you can get with an ordinary speaker. When you're the richest woman in the world, and a mechanical genius to boot your eardrums will easily pop if you try your hardest. Or your mates if that's what you're going for. The sonic impact actually blew Vegeta across the yard. Judging from the stunned expression on his face I'd say that Bulma won this round.

There was a clanking sound as the speaker drew back up into the ceiling, Steps could be heard, if you still had hearing. Bulma appeared in the doorway, smiling smugly. She strutted across that lawn very similar to what her mate had done earlier. "You yelled your most ass-holiness?" Vegeta glared up at her and growled.

"I'll get you back woman, when you least expect it," he snarled at her. Bulma just smirked back at him. Vegeta stood and brushed himself off haughtily.

He advanced, glared at Bulma and opened his mouth to speak again. He was interrupted by a squeal from the trees on the other side of the lawn. "OOO! A matched set! How adorable! I am so lucky today!" Both Bulma and Vegeta whirled to see who it was.

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            "Oh FUCK."

            "Would you stop saying that? I mean it can't be that bad… She didn't try to kill either of us, seemed pretty friendly…"

            "Oh yes, friendly, very friendly, that's the problem." Gohan blinked at Piccolo in confusion. He began to ask something but Piccolo rapidly cut him off, "We're going to see if we can fix this ourselves. I'll go to the Tenka and see if I can find her or some solution from there, you look for her ki, if you can't find any strange ki's look for ones that seem to be fluctuating, moving strangely. Might not be her but it's our best bet."

            "Uhh… are you sure you don't want to tell the others?"

            "YES!"

            "Um, what if neither of us can find her? And what do we do if we find her?"

            Piccolo paused, he hadn't actually thought that far ahead, "Tell her I need to talk to her, we'll meet at… Capsule Corp.? Whether we find her or not… Yes, Cap Corp. She'll head for a population center." He glared at Gohan, who retreated a bit from his sensei's gaze. "You got that?"

            "Er, yes, find her, then get to Bulma's, don't tell anyone else. Are you sure…?" Another glare cut his question short. "Right."

            Piccolo gave a nod and then blasted off towards Kami's Lookout (What is the name of that place anyway? Lookout is such a lame name…)

            Gohan waved away the dust that had risen when Piccolo had taken off; he looked at the sky and winced slightly. Why is Piccolo-san so… pissed that this girl is out? It's like he's worried and doesn't want anyone to know what's going on… He shook his head and looked around again. Squinting at the walls he muttered slightly to himself, "I wonder… did I bring…" He reached into his sash and pulled out an emergency capsule. ::PAFF:: He began rummaging through the trunk that appeared he quickly found what he was looking for, a small digital camera. Blinking up at the sky he stood. Surely Piccolo won't mind if I get a few pictures, I mean someone must have built this place, it's quite an archaeological find, and maybe Bulma can translate this script and tell us who the goddess is… Satisfied with his reasoning he smiled began to carefully take pictures of the walls. I'll just email this to Bulma when I'm done, then look for Her. 

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            Crap, or maybe fuck again, I think I'm beginning to overuse that word. No I'm not, it suites the situation perfectly. Fuck, fuck, fuck. I just had to blast that stupid rock didn't I? I recognized that writing. From way back when, those were magic symbols dammit. What was the name of that place? Plague, magi, and that weird goddess. All goddesses were weird but she was weirder. King Kami said to watch her, that she was dangerous… important… yet when she disappeared it was ok, never said another thing about her… Maybe there's something in the Library, hope Dende doesn't ask what I'm doing, hope Gohan doesn't find her either. If what I remember about her powers is correct I don't want her getting near any of the Saiyans. Fuck. 

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            There is a certain kind of people who believe that dust implies venerability, and cobwebs imply mystery. Really it just implies minimal housekeeping skills. Those same people also think that cults are mysterious sacred religious organizations upholding the glorious traditions of the past that prevent certain doom from falling on the population of the earth. Most are harmless. Every single one of those cults and cultists has no real inkling of what they are doing. The lovely joke that Fate decided to play on one such cult is that she gave them the real thing. Books. Sacred tablets describing the assault on the beautiful paradise city of Calago by an evil spirit/goddess who's favorite past time was spreading disease and burning innocents alive. How the noble magi servitors of the city gathered together and were able to defeat her by locking her in a prison of stone. Also just as incidentals they included two other objects with the sacred texts. One was a small stone identical in miniature to the stone the goddess was trapped in that would represent anything that happened to the prison. The other was something very different. The plague wasn't a message from Fate; it was a warning. Once the goddess was defeated there was a group of about thirty or so survivors left over. Thirty magi who had just discovered the usefulness of cooperation, and who had the gratitude of the entire population of a city, the possibilities were over whelming. Pooling knowledge was fine, but they began to look further. After all if they could imprison a goddess, what else could they do?

            At the lair of the cult (it was actually a warehouse), which was the only surviving descendent of that ancient grouping of magi the stone of the Goddesses prison broke. Granted it had a little help, a novice in a fit of spring-cleaning had decided to dust it. And dropped it. It only cracked a little. It wasn't his fault. He put it back on the pedestal and scurried away. Less than half an hour later, during the mid-morning chant of gratitude and praise, the stone grew red hot, then white, then exploded.

            At that lair (warehouse) there was an argument currently going on around the pedestal that had once supported the Goddess Prison Stone, all that rested upon the pedestal now was dust.

"We must recage the Goddess!"

            "And how do you plan to do that you overstuffed imbecile?!" 

            "I say we call the BEAST!" Silence followed this statement. You can tell the fellow who said it was serious. After all, he used capital letters in speech, and that's tough. "I mean this is the perfect time to use it! Isn't it supposed to protect us? And well, won't the Goddess be, uh, fairly angry that she got stuck in the stone for all those years?"

            "We don't know that the goddess has really been released yet… It might just be this stone."

            "But we don't know where Calago is… we can't check…"

            "But we can't sit around waiting for everyone to start being burned to death…"

            "Well, we could get ready and stuff, maybe summon IT, then put IT back if IT's not needed… y'know, if She's not back…" The general opinion began to focus, yes; this last course of action would be the one to take. If you listened on the spirit plane, right there, right then, you might have heard a woman's laughter, then again, it might have just been your imagination.                      


	4. There Is A Time to Panic

Flame-Moon Goddess Chapter4

There Is a Time to Panic

Disclaimer, yada, yada…'nkyu for your time… I have a handy little online dictionary thing called Atomica, if I can't think up names I start translating things, so if you look at the roots of the names you might be able to learn a little more about the people or places they describe.

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            Finally, the Tenka Dome… Piccolo lands close to the building and quickly strides inside after glancing about him for any witnesses. Left, right, down the hall, up the stairs, down the left hall, first door on the right, past the desk, through the door, this'll be in the older sections so down the stairs… Piccolo entered the Library, for one that had been kept for a couple thousand years it was tidy, clean, and somehow small. But this room was just for the past hundred years. There were 20 stories to this library, Piccolo was headed for the deepest, the oldest. Seeing a 6'6" namek creep through a library isn't quite normal. Deep in the stacks (shelves) he slowed his pace and began running his finger along the spines of the books, looking for a familiar name. Bartonath, Berknot, Bhaunt, Bitbank, Bjokat, these are all friggin' b's! Ca, ah… should be… There! Calago. Quickly his hand darted forward to grab a moderately thick book. He opened it and began flipping through the pages. Founding, invasion, growth, plague… no, not the one we want. Decimation, invasion, peace ugh, moved to, growth, plague… ahhhh! Here it is… Piccolo began to speak out loud, " '_in the month of September on the 10th a plague was introduced… decimated the population… the populace demanded and answer from the Mogoin… the Mogoin blamed the vernal equinox spirit I have begun to call Vlammen Maan Godin, the Mogoin then banded together to bind her spirit to a large boulder in the center of their town. As Vlam Maan was dragged by their magic to the center she began striking out at the Mogoin when she realized the danger to herself. She destroyed ten of the Mogoin before she was trapped within the stone. The Mogoin then buried the stone beneath the town square in a cavern covered with protective sigils. They created a sister stone to the stone they had imprisoned Vlam in by sympathetic magic. I expect that Vlam will break free next equinox and destroy the town and Mogoin…_' " Piccolo raises his head and blinks, "Then what the hell was she still doing there?" He shakes his head and flips another couple of pages, " '_The Mogoin have crossed boundaries they should not have, they have begun to study hell and summon demons. I can no longer see the stone that Vlam was infused in, I fear that if she is released that the sigils the Mogoin have begun to use will corrupt her and cause her to become a demonic entity of this world. There is also the danger that the Mogoin will summon a demon too strong for them to handle in their attempt to defend themselves._' Fuck, this can't be good… '_I have studied the situation and foresee a plague heading in the direction of Calago, despite the death toll on the population the Mogoin will be hardest hit, both by the accusations of the townspeople and the plague itself._' So that's what happened…" He snaps the book closed and stands for a moment. He sighs, "I suppose I warn Dende about a general threat and leave this book in an obvious place. Yes, that would be best." He begins to stride out of stacks then stops; a horrified expression crosses his face, "Demonic entity? Corrupt her? Oh crap, Gohan!"

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"Ok, I've looked, up down and all around, but I can't see any strange ki's… Piccolo's just left the Tenka, so I suppose we should meet at Bulma's, maybe she's translated those markings I found on the walls." Gohan nodded and then set off towards Capsule Corp.

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            "Piccolo is that," Dende emerges from the Kami's Palace just in time to see Piccolo launch himself off that edge and fly maximum speed off into the distance, "… you?" huh, guess he didn't want to visit, but why is he flying like a bat out of hell? Dende emerged from the building and started towards the edge, where is he going? Really.. oops.. Dende tripped over something. Looking downwards he bent over and picked up a medium sized library book. Puzzled he looked at the spine. "Calago? This is one of the really old Kami's histories… why would Piccolo get it only to drop it up here?" Frowning he started to open and flip through the book, suddenly he stopped his head coming up. Who's this? I don't recognize her…

            "Hello!" came the cheerful greeting from the strange girl with dark brown red hair, blue eyes, wearing a neon blue shirt and jeans, but no shoes.

            What the hell? Who the hell is this? was Dende's first thought.

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               Gohan smiled and thanked Mrs. Briefs for the cookies and juice, then wandered outside to meet his sensei. Absently eating the cookies he watched the horizon, Piccolo appeared, still going very fast. Gohan shoved the last of the cookies in his mouth and then began to wave. Swallowing the last of the cookies he began to grin then stopped when Piccolo didn't reduce his speed at all… Piccolo slammed into him, grabbing his arms with a panicked expression on his face. "YOU DIDN'T FIND HER RIGHT? NO CONTACT RIGHT?"

            "Uh, right, but I thought you wanted me to find her? What's wrong?"

            "Thank Kami…" Piccolo let go of Gohan and dropped to the ground.

            "Um, again, what's wrong?" Gohan asked, slightly worried and impatient.

            "It's just probably not a good idea to let her get too close to any Sayians." Piccolo sighed and glanced at the ground frowning, trying to think. "I did some research. There is the possibility that she has been tainted by demonic forces, and even if she hasn't been tainted there is a good chance that she's gone insane from the time she spent locked in the stone." He glanced over at Gohan, "Given her abilities to manipulate and feed off of emotions it would probably not be a good idea to go Super Sayian around her."

            "Oh. Well that sounds reasonable, but if she's demonic why didn't she attack right away?" Piccolo glared at Gohan, Gohan quickly answered his own question, "Er, it's just a possibility and if I really want to know I can ask her myself. Right." Piccolo glared harder. Gohan coughed, embarrassed and looked around for a distraction. "Hey look, here comes Bulma! I gave her a copy of the writings on the walls to see if she could translate it." Piccolo's eyes widened.

            "Hi guys! Gohan sweetie, I looked at those markings you sent me and I was able to translate some of them, they were a really old language but the University database had a small section of translated words. The rest I couldn't translate because they seemed to be in a completely different language, no records of symbols like that being used anywhere else in the world. Like the ones who used it weren't even human. Piccolo? Are you ok? You just went, well, pale green…" Gohan and Bulma blinked as Piccolo wobbled and sat down on a lawn chair that creaked with his weight.

            "Bulma," Piccolo started, gritted his teeth then began again, "Bulma, do the world a favor and destroy all the evidence you have of that second language, and please, please do NOT attempt to translate it or speak it out loud."

            Bulma blinked at Piccolo, then she and Gohan exchanged a glance that seemed to say Piccolo's gone off the deep end, but let's humor him. "O…kay Piccolo, I'll do that. Geez, this is the second weirdest thing that's happened to me today."

            Gohan blinked at her, "The second weirdest? I've had some pretty strange things happen to me today, but this is the weirdest…"

            Bulma shook her head. "It's still second weirdest. Some strange girl popped out of the woods while Vegeta and I were just starting a fight and she began giggling about how we were a matched set. I thought that was pretty strange, but then she said that I was her high priestess and Vegeta was the high priest, and then left. That tops Piccolo on the weirdo-meter." Piccolo began to twitch, then fell over backwards off the chair with a little scream.

            Gohan and Bulma stared at Piccolo and the overturned chair. They exchanged another look, this one said Piccolo needs drugs, lots of drugs. Gohan cleared his throat politely, "Uh, Piccolo?"

            "Bulma." Piccolo's voice came from the ground. It sounded odd, kind of strained.

            "Er, yes?"

            "Did she happen to say where she was going when she left?"

            "Um, yes, she said she was going to go visit God, that she hadn't seen him in so long."

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            "So how long have you been Kami?" the goddess that was causing all the fuss asked Dende as she calmly sipped her tea. "Ooo, this is so good! Thank you Mr. Popo!"

            "You're welcome miss."

            "Oh, I've been Kami for about oh, 5 or six years now, just begun compared to all the Kami's past."

            "Must be nice being able to see everything that goes on."

            "Ha, yes, it's wonderful but still a bit distressing that I can't help as much as I like, but Earth has acquired some powerful defenders in the past 20 years or so."

            "That's wonderful! I hope I can help make sure things go right on Earth, I've been gone so long that I really have no idea what's going on."

            "Well, let's figure out how long you've been gone, then we can fill you in and get you settled. Can you remember any distinctive events that would catch attention?"

            "Hmm, well Green Brother went insane, does that count as an event?"

            "Maybe, but who's Green Brother?"

            "Oh! He is the apprentice, or was I should say, of the Kami that I remember. He was green and looked very much like you, he was conflicted to begin with, but that's normal you know. He was really a sweet guy. Really thought it was strange, the last I had seen him he was his normal self, then wham, the next time I saw him he was wandering around on Earth and he tried to kill me. I was going to ask King Kami what was going on, but then I got involved in that silliness with the Mogoin and their damned stone. He must have gotten better though."

            "Why do you say that?"

            "Because he's the one who rescued me."

            "PICCOLO?!"      

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Who thinks that someone who enjoys Earl Grey can really be all that bad? ^_^ 


	5. Chasing a Couple of Waterfalls

Flame-Moon Goddess Chapter5

Chasing a Couple of Waterfalls

Disclaimer, the next time someone asks you what you're doing, tell them you're chasing waterfalls, they get the weirdest look. ^_^ Oh, and if you like the way I'm doing something (or you want to root for a character) leave a review or email me.

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            "PICCOLO?!"

            "Eh? That might be his name, I don't think King Kami ever introduced us properly. Why? What's wrong Dende?"

            Dende's looked shocked; he stared at her and blinked a few times. "Uh, well…" the girl sitting across the table from him cocked her head to the side as he tried to straighten his thoughts into coherent form. "Well, from what you just said you apparently managed to meet Piccolo and the one who was Kami before they split, and then uh, Daimyo after they split." Bugger, I really don't want to explain what happened… it'll take so long, the original namek, to Piccolo Daimyo and Kami, then Piccolo (that's bound to drag in Goku and the other Sayians), then Nail, then back together again to Piccolo. Dende carefully placed his cup on the table. He filled it again, and then nervously began organizing things on the table before him. He moved the pot of tea to the left, then the plate of tiny cakes to the right, the book that Piccolo had dropped out side went to the center of the table, then he switched the book and the pot again. The girl/goddess who had introduced herself as Vlammen Maan Godin watched silent and fascinated as Dende finally left off arranging the table and began clutching his staff and twitching.

            Vlam watched Dende twitch for a few more seconds, then gave up. As entertaining as watching his emotions roil is, it's disturbing tea time. In an attempt to distract herself and give Dende time to recollect himself her eyes began to wander about the room. Hello, what's this? Looking at the book that rested on the table she began craning her neck to try to read the title. Calago? Wasn't that… She glanced at Dende, but he didn't seem to be paying attention to her. She started to reach for the book but then stopped as Dende straightened and seemed to become resolved.

            "Well, I think the explanation would be a bit involved, but the easiest thing to say is that the Piccolo who… rescued you is not the same one as the one who was King Kami's apprentice. He is the son, kind of, of that namek. Er. He would probably be the best one to explain it. Currently I believe that there are around 4 or 5 distinct personalities that make up his psyche."

            "That sounds, very involved." Dende nodded empathetically. "I can see why you don't want to get into it." Vlam glanced down at the book she had begun to reach for. "And I'm afraid there could possibly be more serious matters immediately at hand… Have you been reading this book?"

            Dende glanced at the book sitting on his table and frowned, "No I have not, I actually found it on the courtyard outside the palace. I think Piccolo got it from the Library then dropped it outside." His gaze followed her hands as she picked up the book and flipped it open to the very end, past the section Piccolo had read. "Why? Is it important?"

            "Possibly, you see the place where the Mogoin resided, where I was imprisoned, was called Calago. I was trapped in a large dirty city, yet I emerged into a waste. I would like to know what happened to the city, and perhaps more importantly where the Mogoin went… and what they are up to."

----- 

            "The materials are ready for the summoning sirs," a scraggly young novice in a blue-green robe bowed and kept bowing, "The only thing left to ready is the sigils."

            Another novice bustled up, covered in colored chalk dust and sand, just in time to hear his fellow novice's words. He glared as well as he could at his fellow while bowing, "The sigils are ready my lords." A few of the higher-ups took notice of the novice's words and pompously nodded. Most continued arguing, their voices reverberating in the empty basement. The novices remained bowing hoping for more recognition. Sighing in disgust the second novice straightened. He was followed by the first whose spine audibly snapped and popped. The second novice winced in sympathy as the other groaned. A muttered conference was heard as the two compared what their missions had been.

            "What'd you have to do?"

            "Catch chickens, I was supposed to get live livers," shudders, "I can't even put out a mouse trap, how can they expect me to rip open a chicken? I bought a pigs liver off the butcher, he didn't have any chickens… what about you?"

            "Draw stuff on the walls in chalk."

            "Gee, why did you get the easy one?"

            "Hey, I had to get it just right, line it up with the cardinal points, and the walls for this thing are supposed to be circular, and reachable! I had to stand on a twenty-five foot ladder to reach the ceiling; no one would hold the bottom! So it was hard and dangerous."

            "I guess. Watcha think of the turn out?"

            "For a school night, and on short notice, it's pretty good. You got any idea what it's about?"

            "Nope. Something to do with the Prison Stone I'd guess. The stupid old relic isn't on the pedestal thingy where it's supposed to be."

            "Uh oh…" the novice shifted nervously and chalk dust and sand sifted out of his robes.

            "What's up?" There was a long, somehow frightened pause, the novice moved slightly to look at his friend, "Caduta?"

            "Um, this morning, I uh, I kinda started to dust the Stone this morning…"

            "And? So what? It's fuzzy, someone should clean it."

            "Pingo, I accidentally dropped it!"

            "Oh. Well it didn't break or anything did it?"

            "It, um, kinda cracked."

            "Er…" Pingo glanced nervously at his chalk and dust covered friend. Caduta looked anxious, frightened that he had done something really wrong. "Uh, well, we're summoning a guardian, not trying to stuff the goddess back in a stone. Just don't tell anyone else ok?"

            "Demon."

            "What?"

            "Um, on the papers that I was copying, the literal translation is demon, not guardian." Pingo stared at his friend in horror. Caduta blinked back at him. 

-----     

            "She's going to see God? Dende?" Gohan looked from Bulma to Piccolo, trying to see his reaction to this news.

            Piccolo slowly rolled away from the toppled chair and onto his feet. Rising he gave a silent snarl. "We need to check and see if anything is wrong with Vegeta first, as I said, I don't want her to start drawing power from any Sayians." He began walking around the edge of the building towards that backyard and the gravity room.

            Bulma blinked, "Drawing power? She's just a girl, and she didn't do anything to us, she didn't even touch us."

            Piccolo paused before he turned the corner, "Just making sure."

            "Piccolo-san!" Gohan jogged to catch up to his sensei. "Should we ask Vegeta to come with us? Or leave him here?"

            Piccolo slowed thinking. She was able to defeat my father last time, although it wasn't in direct combat. Wonder how she did it, she just threw that blue-black ki and then Daimyo went down. He shook his head. No, bringing Vegeta would not be a good idea. Not only would there be the chance that She could drain them, but also that she could infect him demonically. That would be very bad. For that matter I don't want Gohan with me either, he's the third strongest of us, but how can I ditch… "Ah, there's the chamber, you talk to Vegeta, see if he's acting normal and ask if he can point out Her ki. I'm going to try to contact Dende and see if he's ok."

            "Right."

            ** Dende, are you there? Dende? Where the fuck are you… DENDE!**

----- 

            "What are you trying to say brat?"

            "There's some creepy half demon half goddess wandering around, Piccolo's being paranoid and wants to know if you saw her and if you can tell where she is."

            Vegeta's iron control over his features cracked enough for him to blink in surprise before the mask dropped back into place. "So the namek lost his girlfriend? Huh, yes I saw her; no I can't tell where she is although she did say she was heading to that weakling namek's place.   As she left she said something about a to-do list. One down, four to go." Gohan nodded, then shifted awkwardly as he wondered how to frame the infection question. Vegeta watched him squirm for a few moments. "No she did not touch me or the Woman." Gohan blinked as Vegeta smirked at him. "Now go find something better to do than interrupt my training with the Namek's foolish concerns." As Gohan began to nod Vegeta stepped back into the gravity room and slammed the door in his face.

            "Uh, thanks," Gohan said to the closed door. There was a whine as the gravity room powered up. Gohan turned to where Piccolo was standing. There was a scowl on Piccolo's face as Gohan walked back over to him. "Vegeta said..."

            "I heard. Dende isn't responding."

            "Oh."

            "We're going." Piccolo launched himself into the air with a leap. "When we get there, even if she's not there, you're staying put. We don't want her getting to Dende." 


	6. In the Hot Seat

Flame-Moon Goddess Chapter6

In the Hot Seat

Disclaimer Er, right. Must be the school computers. Either way here it is. The names have been translated to protect the symbolism. Also included is a bit where the characters try to figure out just what has happened so far, for those of you who've lost track… ^_^

----- 

            "Pingo? What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" Caduta gulped anxiously. 

A master wandered by pacing self importantly, "Prepare for the summoning, the ceremony is about to begin."

Pingo seemed to regain his senses and bowed respectfully. As soon as the old man had passed Pingo grabbed his friend by the arm and hauled him towards the chamber exit. Unnoticed by their superiors they made a clean escape. As they wound their way through the dusty and soiled passages on the ground floor to the exit to the outside Caduta seemed to become more and more agitated. "Why are we leaving? I thought we wanted to help, to have fun?"

"Have fun, yes. Summon demons, no. That's a not kid game, that's more like help destroy Tokyo with humongous monsters. I might joke about destroying the high school, but I don't really want it to happen."

"Oh..."

They had reached the exit; Pingo held Caduta back from the doorway as he poked his head out the door and peered around, making sure that the coast was clear. Safe, they emerged from the dilapidated warehouse into the run-down industrial district. Weeds and moss grew, spreading from between the cracks that divided the ancient pavement. Ivy covered the tottering buildings, chewing at the mortar and trying to reclaim the area for nature. Pingo sauntered down the main drive as Caduta trailed behind. To the left bricks from the smoke stack of the old bakery crumbled and rotted, creating small thunder as they dribbled to the ground. On the other side a long rusted sign proclaimed Sintel Steel Mill. Pingo came to the intersection that led to the road, to the populated areas with traffic and street lamps, the rumble of cars could be heard in the distance. There they paused, Caduta pulling towards light as Pingo left him to duck down an overgrown alley. "Where are you going?" he cried as Pingo disappeared into the shadows cast by the overgrown ivy. 

Pingo's face reappeared, puzzled, "Dude, you forget? Our packs. Remember?"

"Oh yeah. Right. Guess I forgot," he replied lamely and reluctant. 

"Well come on then."

They scurried like small inoffensive animals into the brush, heading westwards into the afternoon sun. They emerged quickly, popping into the yard of the steel mill. Pingo stopped and narrowed his eyes as Caduta exclaimed in fear and ducked behind him, hiding. The woman standing in front of them seemed to glow in the sun barely reaching over the roof of the buildings. Dark red hair shimmered as she tipped her head to the side. "Hi there, nice to meet you, but where is everyone else?" she asked as she bared her teeth in a smile.

----- 

            "Dende!" Piccolo exclaimed as he and Gohan landed in the courtyard of the Tenka Dome. Footsteps were heard, a pattering sound from the right as Mr. Popo entered from caring for his gardens, and tapping from the left as Dende came around the building with his Kami's staff. Gohan gave Popo a nod of greeting as Piccolo turned directly to Dende. "Where the hell have you been? Don't you know we have demons and other ancient spirits running around?"

            Dende blinked in surprise, "I didn't know they had been released yet, although we have seen them preparing for it. I wouldn't worry about it Piccolo, I'm sure it'll all work out fine." It was Piccolo's turn to blink. "By the way, that was very nice of you. You've obviously progressed quite a deal, actually helping rescue someone. Very kind." Dende smiled smugly at Piccolo as his jaw slowly dropped.

            "What. The hell. Are you. TALKING ABOUT?!" Piccolo yelled, increasing in volume as he went along. 

            "Rescuing Vlam, what did you think I was talking about?"

            "Vlam? Who the hell is that? You mean the demon?"

            "No, the demon's name is Mergulho, Vlam is the girl who knew you."

            "What fucking girl?!"

            "The moon spirit, and please don't swear."

            Piccolo and Dende paused and stared blinking at each other. Neither could seem to get through to the other. Gohan interrupted. "Maybe we should begin from the beginning."

            Dende shrugged, "I suppose that seems logical."

            Piccolo growled, "It began today when Gohan and I were sparring..."

            "No it didn't, it began when Vlam wandered into that town."

            "What?"

            "Calago. Remember, the one from the book you dropped out here, the one with the Mogoin."

            "Ah, so you did find it, and you read the part about how she got trapped and became demonic."

            "What? No, she told me about being trapped but she was never near any demons, that was the Mogoin. The book I'm talking about is the one with the cult, the one that has the books on how to summon demons."

            "What?"

            "That's why she's not here right now. We read that the knowledge of demon summoning had left the city and was now in the hands of a new cult. So I tracked down the cult and Vlam went to see if they noticed her being freed and to stop them from summoning the demon Mergulho."

            "She was HERE?!"

            "Yes, we had tea. You don't have to shout you know, my hearing is quite good." Although it won't be if you keep on screaming at me.

            "Where is she now?!"

            "Tracking down the cult on earth, I already told you..." The rest of Dende's sentence was lost as Piccolo whirled and dove off the platform, yelling to Gohan to stay and protect Dende.

            Dende shook his head, then looked at Gohan inquiringly. Gohan sighed, and took a deep breath. This is going to be a very, very long explanation.

----- 

            "Well? Where is everyone?" Vlam asked as she smiled at the two teens before her. The first was of average height and features, the most distinctive part of him was his braveness, and he squinted at her with a calculating look in his eyes. He's a leader, probably not too quick, but when he decides to do something he does it till he's done, now for the second… The first young man's companion was hiding behind him, peeping over his shoulder to stare frightened and wide eyed at her. He was slightly taller than his friend but was far skinnier. His eyes changed from frightened to curious as she didn't make any threatening moves and he shuffled out from behind his human shield. A rabbit, but not really. Smart about things, not people, physical strength probably frightens him, he's the perfect wild magus, with the other as his keeper and guard.

            "Who are you?" The lead teen speaks, "What do you want with us?" His eyes assess her cynically. 

            "Who me? My name is Déesse," should be safe, that's an uncommon one "I'm just here for the ceremony. I'm a bit lost so if one of you could direct me to the summoning chamber..? You are novices correct?"

            "Yeah, we are. We, uh, kinda have to go though. It's a school night and all."

            "Ah. I see. Well then which way is it?"

            "Down the street, to the left, the warehouse basement."

            "Thank you." The young men nodded and started to edge past her, heading towards the door to the steel mill behind her. "Just one more question." They stopped, almost next to her. She smiled, "Did either of you see or know what happened to the Stone?" What's this? The rabbit has paled, and is hiding again…

----- 

            What the hell was Dende thinking? Drinking tea and letting Her run off to go hunt 'demons'. Ha! He's far too innocent for the job of Kami. Ah, there she is, thinking she can hide in the brush and abandoned buildings. Who the hell are those other two? It doesn't matter I suppose, just humans, and by now probably infected.

----- 

            "So let me put this straight," Dende said as he, Gohan, and Mr. Popo sat around the table, "First, Vlam is some sort of goddess or elemental spirit running around on earth trying to help the Kami's keep things together by letting out pent up human emotion. Second, she meets Piccolo before he splits into Daimyo and Kami. Third, she meets Daimyo on earth and he tries to kill her, but she escapes somehow and doesn't think it serious enough to go ask questions. Fourth, she wanders into Calago and gets trapped in stone by the magi there. Fifth, the magi clan the Mogoin learns how to summon demons, they write down a how-to book. Sixth, a plague hits Calago killing off most of the population and all of the Mogoin but one novice who leaves the area with the sacred relics of his clan and starts up his own little cult near Tokyo. Now we get to more recent events. That seems to be where you and Piccolo get involved Gohan."

            "Right. Piccolo and I must have been sparring over the area where Calago used to be, I got chucked into the ground and broke through into this cavern thing. There was a boulder sitting in the center of the cavern, presumably Vlam's prison. Piccolo got pissed and blasted it, Vlam popped out, grinned, said thank you, kissed Piccolo on the cheek and flew off. Here we all split up. Piccolo came here to check out the Library, I stayed at Calago and took pictures of the walls for Bulma, then went looking for Vlam's ki. Vlam apparently went straight to Vegeta and Bulma's house, said hi there and declared them her high priest and priestess. Then we all switched places, I went to Cap. Corp. to meet Piccolo, Vlam came here to meet you, and Piccolo went running to find me to make sure I didn't find Vlam. I surprised they didn't see each other passing going the other direction."

            "Huh, well I'm not so surprised. Piccolo was flying extremely fast, he didn't even stop to warn me, just dropped the book and was gone. Funny, if he had paused to tell me about it he would have been here when Vlam arrived."

            "Well there isn't that much more on my end, we just talked to Bulma, ah, Piccolo kind of freaked out, asked Vegeta if anything was wrong then flew here to check on you."

            "Here meanwhile Vlam had introduced herself, then raised the question of where the Mogoin were. We checked the back of the book and found out that little bit about the plague and the novice running off. Vlam was a bit worried so I peeped over the edge to try to find the cult. Unfortunately she was right, the cult is preparing to summon the demon in order to put Vlam back in her prison. She obviously doesn't want to go so she said she was going to go put a stop to it. She thanked me for my help then asked permission to put a portal in."

            "A portal?"

            "Yes, apparently she can travel through flames, but only to some place she's either marked or where a fire already exists. Come, I'll show you." Dende stood and walked out into the hall to the courtyard. He pointed at a stylistic circle of steel and cobalt glass flames that seemed to be embedded into the wall. "So, there it is. She said that if she found any innocents she would pass them through to here to keep them safe."

            "Cool, like dad's Shoukun Idou (did I spell that right? Instant Transmission)."

            "Yes."

            "I wish Piccolo-sensei had stayed to hear all this. He seems fairly set on her being a demon and trying to take over the world." Gohan shook his head. "His loss I suppose."


	7. What Do You Know?

Flame-Moon Goddess Chapter7

What Do You Know?  


Disclaimer Ok, you might want to go back and read chapter 6 again, I updated it a total of 3 times, and the final time the whole last half was added. Oh and sorry about not updating, but I've hit some writers block, and I really don't like posting short chapters. Grr... I need a title too. Hmmm.

----- 

            Caduta and Pingo froze, and turned to stare at the woman. They exchanged glances and Caduta began edging away as Pingo turned to face her, "What did you just ask?"

            "Do you know what happened to the Stone this morning?" She smiled at them again, a feral grin, her blue eyes seemed to glimmer as she examined their faces.

            Pingo barely retained his poker face, "I heard that it exploded during the mid-morning chant. I dunno if that's true, but it's not on the pedastle where it's supposed to be." He shrugged, Caduta shifted nervously on his feet.

            "That's not exactly what I asked. I asked what you _know_. Both of you." Her gaze flipped to Caduta and fastened on the paling gawky young man. Pingo stepped in front of him, shielding him from her gaze, to late.

            "I didn't mean to…" Quiet, so quiet a murmur that Pingo standing in front of him could barely hear it.

            Her gaze arrowed towards them, boring through Pingo to strike Caduta cowering behind. Her eyes glowed a flickering neon blue and Pingo stepped back, retreating. The blue went out and she smiled again, this time a relaxed grin. "Don't worry my child, whatever you did to the stone it only placed the key in the lock, another turned it." She smiled at the stunned teens as they gaped at her, "I have much to thank you for, but I fear that I need some more information, then I'll take you to somewhere safe."

            "Safe? What do you mean?"

            "She's not, she's not one of the Plaesc? It was ok that I dropped it?"

            She raised her hand at the questions. "Your queries will be answered in time, but first I need to know everything I can about the summoning that is about to take place."

            Pingo looked at Caduta, "Let me handle this ok?" Caduta nodded quickly. Pingo turned back to the woman, giving her a measuring glance. "Well, we were telling the truth about it being in the basement of a warehouse over that way," he waved his hand to the north, "We honestly don't know too much except for a few details. The chamber was suppose to be a circle but isn't, it has got badly drawn chalk lines on the ceiling and walls, they were supposed to be using chicken liver but have got pig liver instead."

            "Which one are they summoning?"

            "Huh?"

            "Which demon?"

            "Oh, Caduta?"

            "Mergulno, something like that."

            "Wonderful. Simply delightful. Frig." She sighed then and shook her head. "Alright, well I better move you to…" She stopped, then whipped her head to the side. "Who…" a blink, then a grin, "Green Brother! Piccolo! You always come to bail me out nowadays, it's getting to be a habit!"

            A growl was heard from the darkness of the alley from which Pingo and Caduta had come from. "I am not here to help you demon-bitch. I am here to send you back to hell!" Piccolo emerged from the shadows to snarl at Vlam, his white fangs glistening in the dark planes of his face.

            "How rude. You were so nice before, what happened? Did you flip personalities again? Go back to your nice self."

            "I never was 'nice'. Why don't you crawl back into the stone you came from? You're outclassed little girl, you've been out of this world for too long."

            "Fat chance. While people are still people I will always have a place in this world."

            "WHAT NOW?!" Pingo screamed at Caduta.

----- 

            Great, simply fucking wonderful. First we run into this freaky lady while trying to get out, she manages to freak Caduta into blabbing and now there's a seven foot tall green monster threatening to kill her. I bet that as soon as he's mopped her up he'll kill us just for jollies. Well at least they're paying attention to each other, not us. Maybe we can sneak away… 'back into the stone where you came…' oh fuck she's… she's… Caduta's tugging my sleave…

            "Hsst, Pingo…"

            "WHAT NOW?!" crap, now they're looking at us… there goes sneaking away…

            "Um," Caduta shifted glancing nervously looking at the two strangers and his pissed off friend. "The ceremony has probably started by now… Shouldn't we get out of here if we don't want to get squashed when they summon the demon?" 

oh fuck he's right…

            "WHAT?!" the goddess screamed, "They're supposed to wait for dusk!" She whirled around to glare at the green dude, "We'll settle this later, right now we have to stop them before they can summon Mergulho. Now we need to get these to back to Dende-sama, he can take care of them for a while. Don't worry guys, this won't hurt a bit." She turned back to the teens and shot her hands forward. A circle of flame appeared beneath Caduta and Pingo's feet. She frowned in concentration as the boys screamed in terror, then made a twisting motion. Flames filled the circle then rushed upwards to cover their forms. Just as suddenly as the flames had started they disappeared, along with the two who had been in the middle of them. She dropped her hands and let out her breath, "I hope I did that right. Come on, we need to stop the summoning." She rose into the air with a blast of heat, and then flew over the buildings towards the north, and the warehouse that housed the cult. Piccolo shook his head in shock then leapt into the air with a snarl to follow her.     


	8. Fortune's Fools

Flame-Moon Goddess Chapter8

Fortune's Fools            

Disclaimer 

Author Note: Blah! Sorry for the update slow down, but with flu and general writers block I haven't really been in the mood. All you writers out there beware the drug they call Nyquil, it grabs hold of you and makes you think realllly strange things. On a happier note I'm on a favorites list! Woohoo! Go me! People are reading! This part is kind of where the humor seems to start leaving off, ooo, the drama, heh. Any who, let's go on with the story.

"Peep," said the odd duck.

----- 

            Vlam whipped forward through the sky then halted above the warehouse for a moment. She gazed downward, oblivious to the waves of heat emerging from beneath her as she hung, eyes gleaming while the sun washed her face in flame. Piccolo, never one to be left in the dust, cautiously flew to join her. Warily, he stopped a few feet from her and glared. "We must keep them from summoning the demon Mergulho, and destroy any chance of someone being able to summon another of his kind." She looked up at him; her eyes stared through him as she waited for a reply. None was forthcoming. She straightened somewhat, and turned to face him, returning his glare full force. "Our differences can be settled once the current threat is over. Do you agree to this?"

            Piccolo gritted his teeth as they watched each other. He was ready to defend and attack; yet she was relaxed and unworried. "I suppose."

            "Good." Her eyes shifted downward as she watched the roof of the building like she could see the summoning being carried out below. "The fools. Torches and braziers, my eyes and ears, the minions of the flame." She gave a feral grin as she raised her hands. The human disguise she wore dropped off, vaporized as she gathered her energy, her hair drifted upwards and resumed its natural color. Piccolo backed off a few more feet as her skin began to glow like molten metal. Flames gathered about her arms and drifted up to settle in her cupped hands. "Butt-kicking for goodness!" (Name that quote! I'll give you kudos in my author note…) Her hands descended and the roof of the building exploded upward and out.

            As shards of burning wood and molten blazing tar flew past she flipped and dove in the sky. Hands stretched forward, she descended like a meteor into the hole she had created. Streaks of fire marked her passage, and from where he followed Piccolo could hear her laughing with the flame.

----- 

            Gohan poked at the ring of steel in the wall as Dende watched faintly amused. "It's weird to think that this can transport someone." He shrugged then turned to Dende, "How does she do it? And what is she really?" Dende grinned at him.

            "Honestly? I really don't know how she does it. Physically it should be impossible. As to what she is, well Vlam isn't really a goddess, but she's not just a spirit either. Given her creation story you'd think that she is a symbol of some human aspect, but as far as I can tell she doesn't enjoy being the center of attention of large crowds of people." He shrugged then frowned, "I can tell you that she is not demonic, there was no trace of that in her aura when I met her. I'm not sure why Piccolo thinks that she's a demon, aside from what the book says about possible possession. Emotional and mental balance after so long a period of solitude is a completely different matter."

            Gohan nodded, then a puzzled look on his face. "Uh, can you hear… feel that?" Dende tipped his head to the side and seemed to listen, it was a faint humming, a trail of heat or ki arcing towards their location, yet at the same time not. Dende nodded and began to head down the hall to the courtyard Gohan trailing behind him. They both stopped suddenly and turned slowly to face the way they had come, to the circle on the wall, as a ratcheting noise could be heard. The two polished steel circles on which the stylized steel and glass flames had begun the rotate, spinning against each other. As the heat from the friction began the increase the metal began to burn. It changed from ordinary to cherry to white hot in a matter of seconds. The flames that had once been false had become real and they rippled across the frame. Cobalt and white steel warred as the circle expanded to two yards in diameter. The rippling flames hissed then flared inward to cover the center of the blazing wheel. 

            Gohan moved to shield Dende from whatever would emerge from the flame. Two objects emerged at speed, screaming. They landed in a heap a few feet from the Kami and his protector. Gohan blinked then relaxed as the screaming shapes became visible as two teenaged boys in slightly toasted robes huddled and shivering in shock. Gohan stared at them a moment as the screaming slowed then halted to be replaced by panicked pants. He exchanged a look with Dende over his shoulder then moved around them carefully to examine the now quiescent circles in the wall. He reached out to touch them then shook his head as he looked back at Dende, "It's back to the way it was, and it's not even hot."

            Dende nodded slightly then turned his attention to the pair lying at his feet. "Are you two hurt? Vlam must have sent you through, although I surprised that she did not come herself."

            On the floor of the Tenka Caduta managed to stop shivering long enough to look up, and then poke Pingo, "Hey look, its another green guy." Having said his piece he fell backwards having fainted dead away. Pingo looked at Caduta then at Dende, he managed a feeble grin and a shrug for his friend's actions. Dende just blinked at him.

----- 

            In the summoning room of the warehouse the high masters of the cult of the Plaesc cult gathered nervously. "Should we really be doing this? I mean, there's no way to be certain really… but we've come so far, just think about the power, even if she's not here, we'll be able to do so much, so much more… It's nearly done, the fire has been readied and the sacrifices made… who will hold the match? Who will light the first flame that will propel us forward to power? We all will." They resolved, coalesced about the high altar in the center of the room (it was really just an old laundry basket with a cardboard box and blanket on top, but for dramatic purposes…). Trembling hands reached out grasping an unlit torch. Someone lit the torch as it was held above the battered glass bowl holding a mix of oil, fat, and various liquids best left unknown. They held it for a minute, no one really wanting to be the one who held it as they lit the fuse that would finish the ceremony. 

With so many hands you would think at least one of them had a good grip on something. The roof exploded, some turned, some screamed, others began to point towards the blazing creature heading straight for them. As Vlam neared and reached forward to grab hold of the torch that seemed to hang unaided in the space above the bowl time became sketchy. It wasn't slow, it was fast, and came in flashes, distinct images. The Plaesc screaming in terror as they cowered from the flaming comet streaking into the room. Piccolo descending, his face becoming a mask as the fires below seemed to cast him into shadow to become the demon he was called. Vlam's eyes gleaming and the determined look on her face as she reached forward to extinguish the torch that was the key to the ceremony. Even in those flashes gravity still has its effects, the torch moving downward, slow compared to the rest, but still moving. She would catch it in time, as it fell in its arc. But terrible Fortune in her delight intervened. The noxious liquid, having lain quiet for so long bubbled, spattering upward, striking the falling torch, lighting with a light whoosh sound that belied the effects it would have. Eyes widened as the bowl leapt up in flame, and the sacrifices laid out about the room were consumed as the ritual was completed. The summoning ceremony of Mergulho was complete.

----- 

I'm evil I know, first slow/short updates and now cliffhangers. Honest, I'm still trying to figure out what the demon is gonna look like, and hopefully now that it's break, I'll write more (doubtful, but I can try).


	9. Mergulho Arrives

Flame-Moon Goddess Chapter 9

Title

Author Note: My writings are produced at a rate inverse to the amount of reading material I have on hand. I've been reading, a lot. I also got addicted to DAoC. Oh well. As it is the final's crunch at school and my writer's block just vaporized I should start cranking out chapters of both this and RE. ::shields herself from angry readers:: Sorry I wasn't writing! I'll write I promise, but I'm not going to post crap if I'm not in the mood to write.

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            Darkness. It's not necessarily a state of light. It can be mental as well. Places can be described as having a light or a heavy atmosphere. At this moment, the one just after the completion of the ceremony, there was no atmosphere. The people in the area felt the breath sucked from their lungs. It was as if suddenly the earth existed in a vacuum. 

The light from the sun was just a reflection of the real thing shining on the place where it struck the inside lip of the destroyed building. Vlam had passed over the altar; she had snatched the torch too late, and had impacted on the ground on the other side. Most of the Plaesc cultists had frozen, like deer in headlights, gazing in horrified fascination at the altar. The altar hadn't changed. The liquid in that had rested in the glass bowl upon it had. The liquid was now a dark blue-green, almost black, and was swirling in a nasty way that would induce nausea and vertigo if you focused upon it too long. Piccolo was hovering towards the back, regarding the cultists and Vlam with equal suspicion. He wasn't sure what had just happened, but assumed from the terrified expressions and the way Vlam was twitching and gripping the torch that it wasn't good.

Still crouching on her knees and clutching the torch Vlam slowly spun about to be able to see the altar. Her face was stiff, her jaws clenched. Her eyes seemed darkened and hollow, an unnatural state for someone whose face was so round and carried a permanent grin. She gazed at the bowl, solemn, "We have failed. All of us." Her eyes lifted to circle the room, meeting the eyes of the Plaesc, the descendants of her hated Mogoin. "Humanity failed here," she gazed ahead locking eyes with Piccolo standing opposite her, "We guardians failed here. May fortune find it in her mercy to forgive us." She wrenched her eyes downward, watching as the greenish swirl stopped, frozen. "Somehow, I doubt it," she whispered as the liquid began creeping up the sides of the bowl.

The dark liquid reached the lip of the bowl and halted momentarily as nodes searched upwards for another grip, for another surface to grasp and cling to. Tendrils waved freely in the air a moment then descended over the lip slowly seeming to clutch at the thick glass. As the oozing darkness reached the bottom of the bowl it tentatively reached out to the cloth-covered altar upon which it rested. Hesitant at first then with greater confidence the darkness reached out and began expanding onto the cloth, heading towards the ground like some demented darkened volcano. The clean line of the rim of the glass at the top seemed to waver and warp as the silicon beneath was dissolved and consumed. The dark shiny sludge had begun to expand more rapidly as its mass was added to. It quickly reached the ground and there it seemed to halt and draw inward. The outline of the boxes beneath began to blur and twist as the bowl had done before them. The substance contracted into a single squat ebony pillar shot through with vile puss-green fissures. Like an unholy fungus it seemed to sprout and grow large, feeding on no visible thing. The squat thing began to grow upwards and shimmer. Bubbles began to mar the semi-smooth surface, bugles and divots in its upper surface deepened while most of the lower section coiled and roiled about itself. Limbs were drawn from the trunk of the now six foot bubbling column. Long, unnaturally thin tentacles extruded from the sides of the trunk. From the back massive twitching ones emerged like the bones of dragon wings, they ended in curving talons. From the top of the tentacled mass that was now the trunk of the pillar a skull shape grew more defined. Spikes emerged from the back of the neck, they lengthened, first curving upwards over the bone, then downwards, partially shielding the eye sockets of the skull.

The skull grew defined, forming into the aspect of a human face. Close-set beady blue eyes glittered outward as the dark goop sank inwards revealing flesh new-formed beneath it. Lips curled backward exposing a chititonous beak like maw more appropriate to a squid than a humanoid. It appeared to be trying to smile. At Vlam. "Hullo dearest. I thank you. It would have taken me eons to break through the Barrier if you hadn't motivated my summoning." The Demon Lord Mergulho slithered forward slightly leaving a damp trail on the cold grey cement behind him.

Vlam hissed and straightened, holding the flickering torch before her like a sword she snarled, "I am not your dearest foul thing!"

A sneer appeared on Mergulho's face, "Like it or not we were made for each other. You know what they say. Opposites attract.  I will rule the Earth with you at my side. We will be the rulers of all, of gods, demons, and mortals alike."

"You don't want me at your side, you want me under your thumb. They also say absolute power corrupts absolutely. The gods are gone, and the demons all behind the Barrier. You have no interest in mortals. I do, but I have no desire to rule them, or to wed you."

Drawing closer to her until he was only a few meters from her he hissed out softly, "Would you rather be a concubine?"

"I'd rather be stuck in back in that damn stone till the end of the world rather than be forced to even look at you. Drop dead Mergulho, that'd make me happiest."

Mergulho leaned back and laughed. "Well too bad, that's not going to happen any time soon. The stone however can be arranged, dearest. After all, I do have these sheep to command." He wave languidly at the cultists, not even glancing at them as the quivered in huddled lumps on the floor.

"You might have sheep, but you lost your most valuable pawns before you even arrived. I have powerful worshippers, so put your money where your mouth is piss-boy."

"Funny, very funny, dearest," hissed Mergulho. He began to lean forward threateningly, "You're aiming very low dearest, but what you say is false. You haven't managed to have worshippers since you managed to kill off the entire clan that brought you into being out of the foul flames."

"I could always use a change. Really you wouldn't understand. Especially with your obvious preference for sheep you overgrown crawfish." Vlam slid into a fighting crouch, drawing the torch back in readiness to strike.

With a screech Mergulho lost control of his temper and dove at her to attack. The battle began.

            From behind Mergulho Piccolo watched the verbal conflict between the two. He was privately debating between whether to interfere or let them duke it out then kill the winner. _On one hand letting them fight would show me the winners fighting style and weaknesses, on the other side I can't remember if such a defeat would provide the winner with the power of the loser. It does seem that Vlam was right about the demon being summoned, but so far I can't see what she thought was so dangerous about him. I can't believe that Dende sat down and had a tea party with her. Fool boy, if she's done anything to him I'll kill her and beat some sense into Dende's skull, Kami or no Kami. Hmmph, he better not be including me in the sheep category. Then again the fool hasn't even looked around himself for enemies other than Vlam, he hasn't even seen me. Powerful worshippers? Vegeta and Bulma I suppose. Looks like the action is about to start, this should be an interesting show_. With that final thought Piccolo backed into the rapidly darkening shadows that clung to the walls. Frowning at the growing dimness he craned his neck upwards to observe the sky. Dark thunderclouds had begun to gather overhead, blocking the afternoon sun. With a mental shrug he turned his eyes back to the tense standoff between the two combatants. Vlam sneered and made a last nasty comment. Pushed beyond his limits Mergulho screamed at the insult and lunged at her. The battle began.                   

Another cliffhanger, I'm evil I know. At least I'm updating now. Thoughts will be in italics now, just to make them have better visibility. 


	10. Enter Demon King Stage Left

Flame Moon Goddess: Chapter 10

Enter the Demon King Stage Left

Author Note: Yay. I Have Returned. I understand now. It's when I have something else I really should be doing that the muse gets going again. Joy. Bask in the warm glow of my sarcastic self-satisfaction.

With a lunge Mergulho attacked, dark arms swinging forward in a cloud to envelope Vlam from all sides. Vlam darted forward out of the path of his arms. The torch she had been clutching became a club that she hefted smashing downwards and to the left. It slammed into and burned the side of his face, neck, and right shoulder. With a scream he attempted to snap his arms shut trapping her against his body. Flipping herself backwards onto the ground she was able to move underneath his reach. Before Mergulho could change the direction of his arms she had rolled to the side out of his reach. Rolling to her feet beyond him Vlam gave Mergulho her most evil grin.

"I believe the physical round goes to myself. Although if you'd like to contest it I'd understand why, after all you never were that _quick_ on the uptake."

Mergulho hissed softly and rubbed the seared side of his face. "Perhaps I'm not so quick to retreat as you, but I still hold far more power." He raised an arm in the air while the rest began to weave an elaborate pattern in time with his sibilant chanting. A glowing mass of ki similar to the preparation stage of the Genki Dama attack appeared in the palm of the arm over his head. Vlam watched his writhing movements dispassionately, absently shifting her grip on the torch she still held. When he was about three quarters of the way to the maximum strength for that type of attack she began to grin again and shifted to left front stance with the torch held over her shoulder. With a laugh and a toss of her hand Vlam release a fireball with her left hand and threw the torch after it. Both were perfectly aimed the waiting energy. The half formed attack wobbled, destabilized by the sudden influx of energy from the fireball, then was completely disrupted by the physical strike of the flaming torch. The globe exploded, magic and ki release in an uncontrolled flood. Energy slammed outwards, knocking over the humans in the chamber and buckling the concrete walls outward by a few feet. Simultaneously murky water seemed to gush out of nowhere in a desultory spray from the air just above Mergulho. It flooded the basement to about ankle height before dribbling down the drains inset in the concrete in the four corners.

"Oops. Did I do that? So sorry," Vlam said smugly, not sound sorry at all.

"But… that's…" Mergulho's words trailed off as he tried to focus his thoughts through the backlash of broken magic.

"That's not done according to the rules of the Demon Challenge Pact. You forget, I'm a God, not a demon, and I can kill you any damn way I like. My turn now, time to go bye-bye." Vlam began to make symmetrical circling motions with her arms as an orange and white protective aura snapped into place around her body.

After an exclamation of surprise and dismay Mergulho attempted to regain the initiative and defend himself from whatever Vlam was preparing at the same time. A bolt of water slammed against Vlam's aura and was evaporated, the only effect being a soft cloud of steam that rose gently towards the darkened sky. Frantic gestures caused the clouds above to rip open and deluge the entire industrial park in a sudden monsoon-like downpour. The aura let the rain slide over and around it towards the ground. In a last desperate attempt lightning arced downwards, striking the aura, and being harmlessly diverted into the building energy of Vlam's attack. Then it was over, no time was left for any last ditch attempts. Her attack was complete. One hand cast overhand; the other underhand Vlam released both at the same instant. As they traveled towards the now terrified Mergulho they overlapped and merged into one-attack just instants before striking. There was a strange hissing sound and a strangled scream as the glowing globe suddenly expanded to encase Mergulho in a swirling blue and red globe. Beneath the surface Mergulho could be seen, frozen into a screaming hunched position.

Vlam examined her frozen enemy and nodded in a satisfied manner. "That should do nicely until he arrives. Poor bastard didn't even have a defense up, sloppy, very sloppy." Turning to the right she pointed at the ground a few meters from the stiff demon and frowned in concentration as she created a burning circle of summoning. It was a simple circle of flame, with a series of sigils in the center and one on the outside. The circle complete Vlam nodded again and stepped back relaxing.

"And what now if I might inquire?" 

Vlam started as Piccolo's voice came from the shadows behind and to the left of her. Whipping around in a tense stance she prepared to attack and defend until she realized who it was addressing her. She relaxed and laughed, rubbing the back of her neck, "Gave me quite a turn there. Forgot you were here. Now? Well now we wait for the clean up crew to arrive." She jerked her thumb over her shoulder at the burning sigils on the ground behind her as Piccolo drew closer, and then waved at the defeated demon. "We obviously don't want him wandering around here. If I fried him there would still be a lingering spirit trace that might absorb enough energy to re-manifest in a couple hundred years. Or some poor psychic could stumble over him. Either way he wouldn't be much danger but still, could get messy y'know."

Piccolo nodded grudgingly, "I understand, although that wasn't really my question. Who exactly are we waiting for?"

"Oh, you don't recognize the sigils? The Demon King of course."

_The Demon King? What the HELL am** I **supposed to do with this idiot? And what the hell is that summoning for? After all, I'm already here… Wha fuck?_

As Piccolo attempted to figure out what was going on with out having to ask and Vlam watched him with an inquiring gaze behind her the flames in the circle were beginning to change. Seeing the change in Piccolo's gaze Vlam turned back to the circle. 

"Ah! See here he comes. You can meet him. He's an ok guy really." The sigils moved to the side of the circle and a dark vortex similar to the entrance of the Deadzone appeared, the edges moved towards and stopped at the rim of flame with a slight jerk. With a flare of flame a figure in a white cape flew out of the vortex and landed on the ground outside the circle. 

On the wrong side, facing away from Vlam, Piccolo and the immobilized Mergulho. All that could be seen was red skin and two horns. A booming voice echoed formal words, "Who Has Summon… where the hell is everyone? Why am I back on Earth?"

"Hi Dabura. We're over here. Wrong way. Nice entrance by the way."

Piccolo stiffened slightly as the figure turned around and it was indeed Dabura. Demon King of the Otherworld. "Ah… Vlam isn't it? I thought you died… What do you need me for?" 

Vlam waved at Mergulho. "You had a little break out. Some idiots here panicked and summoned him. Nice of you to notice."

Dabura blinked slightly at the glowing trapped figure, "Mergulho huh? Water demon. Sure no problem, I can haul him back to the Otherworld for you."

"What did you mean back on Earth? I thought that we shipped the demons straight to you before…"

"Ah, well y'see, there was this, um. Incident." Dabura looked slightly embarrassed and focused directly on Vlam. Trying to find something else to focus on he noticed Piccolo standing behind her. Piccolo raised his eye ridge slightly; amused that Dabura was trying to avoid talking about the Buu incident. "Ah, uh, Piccolo. Hello there. Uh, sorry 'bout the uh, spit. Mind control and all. You know how it goes."

"No problem. You getting turned into a cookie and eaten rather made up for it." Dabura went solid red edging on purple while Piccolo gave him a nasty grin.

"Cookie? Spit? You two know each other?" Vlam looked back and forth between the two, "When did you meet?"

"I'll just take Mergulho away shall I? G'bye," Dabura hissed hurriedly waving at the globe and floating it into the vortex, quickly following himself. 

Vlam blinked at the closing vortex and disappearing Demon King. Piccolo grinned slightly at the sight of his fellow Demon King running away from him. _Bet I'm the first person Dabura has fled from because of extreme embarrassment. Gives me this warm fuzzy feeling._ Vlam turned slightly to look over her shoulder; eyes wide and inquiring.

Turning and facing him directly she tipped her head to the side, inviting him to explain. Piccolo just shrugged and assumed a pseudo innocent expression he had stolen from Chibi Trunks. Her eyes narrowed, "You will tell me eventually right?"

"Maybe. Shouldn't there be something done about the leftovers?" Piccolo nodded at the stunned cultists littering the damp floor staring at the floor where the vortex had been with something akin to horrified admiration.

Vlam sighed, "Probably. I just don't know what. Considering how haphazard the planning for this summoning was there's little danger they could succeed again. Just removing the books should be enough."

Piccolo nodded. He walked over to one of the more ostentatiously robed cult leaders (neon green and orange were never meant to mix, with or without silver glitter and tinsel) and picked him up by his collar and dangled the human two feet from the floor. "Where are the stolen texts that you got this ceremony from?" Twitching the terrified man whimpered and pointed off to a far corner. There in a place of care and ceremony on a rickety blanket covered card table was a stacked set of tablets. "Thanks." Piccolo dropped him to the floor where he staggered and fell over into a heap of flailing robes. "Blow them to bits or take them?"

"My personal preference is always for large explosions, on the other hand we should probably check to make sure we got everything. Besides the history of my evil attacks should be good for a laugh." Piccolo nodded and reached his hand out, casually levitating the books to him. "Back to Dende-sama's?" Piccolo nodded and lifted slightly into the air. "What are you doing?" Vlam looked up at him from the ground a puzzled expression on her face.

"Flying. Would you rather walk?"

"Why fly when I can take us by fire?" Piccolo frowned dubiously at her as he drifted downwards. "Oh come on, it's perfectly safe, and I placed an anchor-point at Dende-sama's Palace, we'll be there in seconds." Piccolo watched her warily then sighed as he landed lightly beside her. Vlam grinned happily and made a circling motion with her finger in the air, around their feet a circle of fire appeared. "You won't be sorry, it's fun, kind of like freefalling from two miles up." As Piccolo's eyes widened and he started to voice an objection fire whooshed around them and they were gone. 

The tattered and terrified remains of Cult of Plaesc stirred slightly and watched the charred circle where the two terrifying beings had disappeared the way small animals stare when suddenly confronted with their natural enemy. Embarrassed clouds realizing that they had just lost far more moisture than was proper shredded and wisped away into the atmosphere. Ambient light returned, slightly hazy and golden in the way of the verge of twilight. The Cult turned as one from the charred circle to the place where the gaping unnatural whirlpool had been. Finally, assured that nothing was going to appear and eat and or devour their souls the cultists began to stir. Shuffling towards the stairs quietly they all reached an agreement. This was a horrible example of what can go wrong when amateurs experiment with chemicals. Yes, yes, just a chemically induced mass hallucination. That just happened to also have explosive properties. No harm done really. How about next week we just see a movie. Have a field trip. Go see something exciting. Like a garden. A Zen garden. A rock garden. So exciting.                 


	11. Demon on the Horizon

FMG: Chapter 11

Demon on the Horizon 

AN: Finally found the Mirai Shock site again, although I haven't found the message board. -_-' Any who, it's at http://hometown.aol.com/juuhachigouda, It's one of the best (and well thought out) Mirai stories I've ever found, so if you have time (it's a long series) go check it out. I'm also putting it in my bio, so if you need the link again, you don't have to go digging through my chapters. ^_^ There are the standard apologies for slow updating, yada yada…

Standing on the rim of the Lookout were four figures. The first three were listening to the fourth that was looking out over the side and speaking. One of the listeners interrupted with and exclamation of surprise, "Hey! There's another ki down there! It feels like… Dabura? I thought he was dead…"

The other three leaned forward peering with more interest at the ground, although only Dende could actually see anything. "The reason it feels like Dabura is because it is Dabura Gohan. Presumably he was resurrected, or the kaios reincarnated him."

"Oh."

"Who's this Dabura person? Another god?" Caduta wondered as he leaned even farther over the rim, straining his eyes downward.

"Something like that. I forget what his full title is but it amounts to something like Overlord of the Otherworld, at least the sinister half of it."

Reaching over Pingo absently grabbed the back of Caduta's shirt as he started to topple over the edge. "What's this other world you guy's keep talking about? A different planet?" he asked as he hauled Caduta backwards. 

"Not an other world, The Otherworld, sort of an astral plane. The Otherworld is the spiritual side of the universe, the exclusive domain of magic and spirit. Mostly the dead, oni, and the celestial hierarchy of the gods populate it. As with Earth and the rest of the more mundane universe there are different areas with various cultures, species and people inhabiting and ruling over them."

Caduta turned his head and looked at Dende in awe, "Wow, you know a lot about this stuff."

"Thanks," Dende replied with a grin before turning to watch below, "although it's kind of my job. Hello… That was odd." Dende frowned downwards.

"What?" Pingo asked anxiously.

"Dabura's ki just disappeared along with Mer-whosit's," Gohan informed Pingo. Turning to Dende, "Well? What's going on?"

"Dabura took one look at Piccolo, turned beet red and ran for it."

"Um. What did Piccolo do to him?"

"Nothing that I can see, he just smiled. For granted, that's frightening enough. You know his _I'm-just-bideing-my-time-until-you-drop-your-guard-and-least-expect-it-then-I'll-kidnap-you-in-the-middle-of-the-night-and-torture-you-in-such-a-way-that-even-King-Kaiou-will-hear-your-screams-for-mercy_ smile? That's the one he used."

"Huh. I'd run if I saw that smile too, but I wouldn't think that Dabura would be affected."

"Maybe Piccolo got an upgrade."

"What now? As in what are they doing?"

"Intimidation and extortion. Looks like they've got the texts and are getting ready to come back here."

Everyone sighed and leaned back from the edge, glad the fighting was over. "Do you think Piccolo-san is going to stop trying to kill her now?"

Dende shook his head sadly as Pingo answered, "Somehow I doubt it, after all, from what you were able to tell us it's been one thing after another down there. He just hasn't been able to get a handle on what's been going on long enough to get around to killing her."

"He's probably right Gohan. Piccolo is a bit, ah, determined."

"Maybe you could convince him she's ok?"

"I could try I guess. Do their ki's suddenly feel funny to you?"

Sudden yells that were sharply cut off by the sound of objects hitting a wall at high speed echoed across the grounds from the entry hall of the Kami's Palace. The four exchanged wide-eyed looks then began running for the hall.

Describing the actual process by which Vlam uses her fire portals would be extremely uninformative except to a mystical engineer. The visual effects of the portal opening on the outside are easily described. The journey through the flame however is not. It is a wall of flame covering the sight of the outside world, then a flame-covered out-of-control roller-coaster moving at four hundred miles an hour with no inertial compensators through an area that is just far enough outside of this world to move in the narrow passages between molecules, but still close enough to create an impressive splat if it hits anything. For an adrenaline junkie, it's the ride of a lifetime; for almost anyone else, it is a source of nightmares.

To top it all off Vlam has just woken up, after a few hundred years in a rock, and has acquired the energy boost of the souls of a super genius and a super sayian. Non-calibrated is the least you can say for that ride. It was an impressive exit, I'll grant you that. Sending a goddess and a super namek squeaking between the world-stuff and only lighting their clothing on fire is amazing. At least the brakes worked. After all, they were only going one hundred miles an hour when they exited instead of four. That the dent they made in the wall was only three inches deep is a testament to the superior reinforced building materials used after the Garlic Jr. incident. All in all it was a successful trip.

Dashing into the hall Gohan arrived first at the scene then stopped dead staring. Dende slid around the corner and ran into Gohan nearly knocking him over. Then Mr. Popo arrived from the opposite end of the hall where he had been readying snacks for all of the expected visitors. Finally Pingo and Caduta sauntered in, not going so fast because Pingo had realized what the thuds were and knew that it would take a few minutes for them to get their heart rates back to normal.

Groaning Piccolo sat up from where he had landed after slamming into the wall and blinked, attempting to focus his eyes. Seeing Gohan staring at him he considered nodding, but then decided not to for fear of his head falling off. Trying to remember exactly why he was sitting on the floor, he had a horrifying memory of flames and Vlam next to him screaming. There was a faint whap from beside and behind him as an awkward hand slapped onto his shoulder pad. Vlam pulled herself upright and wobbled next to him trying to rub out the chunks of plaster stuck into her hair with her free hand. Piccolo attempted a snarl, and then settled for a fierce comment and a glare, "What the hell happened? Were you trying to kill us?"

Vlam looked blankly at Piccolo for a few moments, trying to place who he was, remembering she shook her head and winced. "No, I think… I think I overpowered it. Fun though. The landing was a bit rough, but I've had worse. I think."

Dende coughed slightly to catch their attention and moved closer, "You two look a bit worse for wear, how about we go sit down in the tearoom and let you catch your breath."

Vlam smiled dazedly at him, "That would be very nice, thank you Dende-sama." She then attempted to stand. Wobbling she managed it after falling and being shoved off Piccolo twice. The third time Dende quickly grabbed her arm and supported her.

Piccolo snorted and managed to stand up on the first try. Standing very close to the wall he attempted to focus his eyes in a glare at Dende, then gave it up as a lost cause. "Fine. Let's go then." Gohan offered an arm to support him, Piccolo growled but accepted, as gracefully as was possible under the circumstances.

Mister Popo smiled and turned down the hall leading the way. Behind him came Dende with his arm wrapped around the waist of a still wobbling Vlam. Close behind them came a stiff looking Piccolo frowning and leaning on Gohan who was fighting to keep his smile to himself. Trailing to the rear were Pingo and Caduta who were grinning at each other and quietly staggering around and tripping in a mocking parody of the two who were theoretically the cause of all their troubles.

They entered the same room Vlam and Dende had eaten in before, this time cushions were placed around a low circular table. Dende helped Vlam to a seat on the far side of the room, close enough to the wall that she could lean back upon it if necessary, and then gracefully seated himself next to her. Gohan who was now staggering under the strain of supporting and guiding his sensei but not seeming to dropped Piccolo onto the cushion next to Vlam. Gratefully he seated himself on the other side of his glowering teacher. Caduta and Pingo shuffled reluctantly into the room then brightened when they saw that neither had to sit next to the hostile green-man or the goddess. Caduta snagged the seat next to Dende in the hopes that he would be able to learn more about the Otherworld and the spirits that inhabited it. Pingo rolled his eyes and hoped to himself that Caduta wouldn't impose on Dende's hospitality. With an affable nod he seated himself next to Gohan as Mr. Popo bustled about the table putting out tea and light snacks for everyone, and a full sized (for a human) meal for Gohan.

While waiting for Popo to finish placing the tea things on the table Dende waved slightly at Gohan to attract his attention. Raising his eyebrows Gohan looked at Dende inquiringly. Dende shot a glance sideways at Piccolo and Vlam. Vlam was concentrating on attempting to hold her cup still for Mr. Popo to pour tea; Piccolo appeared to be concentrating on glaring at her and trying to figure out what evil things she was planning on doing with her tea. Gohan nearly groaned out loud, realizing it had been a supreme mistake hoping that his sensei had decided against killing Vlam. Dende rolled his eyes as Gohan turned to him with a pleading expression, then shrugged.

I suppose we should have planned this better Gohan, but there's nothing we can do about it now without it being too obvious. Dende told Gohan telepathically. Gohan grimaced and nodded in response, not trusting his telepathic control to keep from revealing his side of the conversation to Piccolo.

"I'd like to know something," Vlam said suddenly, startling everyone and turning to Piccolo, "Dende-sama said that you were related to the one I knew as Green Brother, but that the line of descent was complicated. Could you explain please?"

Piccolo blinked as everyone looked at him, then glared at Dende who examined the ceiling quite closely in an attempt to avoid Piccolo's gaze. "I'm not sure who you're talking about, and I see no reason why I should trace my family tree for you, " he said sharply turning his glare to Vlam.

Vlam gave a half shrug and without breaking eye contact continued her line of questioning, "I remember an apprentice and heir to Old King Kami, the one who was Kami-sama in my time, and he was of the same species as you and Dende-sama." She gave Piccolo a slight smile, "You look very much like him, even your mind feels like his. If he is still alive I would like to see him again, catch up on old acquaintances," she slowed and frowned, "and ask for explanations for his behavior."

Piccolo's eyes widened as suddenly things connected, vague memories of her frowning and fighting him and even vaguer, hazy with the past, laughter as she dove headfirst off a railing making a goofy face at him as she waved goodbye. He glanced at Dende who nodded solemnly. Piccolo hissed his breath in and gritted his teeth. "The one you speak of is dead. He was… half my father. As for his behavior, no true explanation can be given, unless you can speak with the previous Kami."

"Half of your father?" Vlam's brow furrowed as she tried to understand. Pingo and Caduta looked confused in the background and Gohan seemed to be beginning to understand judging by the awed look on his face. "How can he…?"

"More appropriately, Piccolo's father was half of your, ah, Green Brother. One half became the Kami of Earth. The other half, well um…" Dende trailed off desperately trying to think of a delicate way to put it.

"Quit waffling you young fool, if you're going to tell her my life story tell it right," Piccolo snarled at Dende then turned to Vlam who was looking shocked, "My father was the incarnation of all of the evil thoughts and emotions that resided in the Kami's apprentice. The former Kami insisted that the thoughts of his heir should be pure. Unfortunately there was a soul link between the two bodies, when one died so did the other. Eventually my father spat me up before he croaked and the link, and the evil inclinations were passed onto me. End of story. Next topic."

Everyone sat there for a moment, feeling either embarrassed or very confused. Gohan and Dende exchanged worried looks and fidgeted, trying to think up a topic that wasn't littered with landmines to fill the silence. "AH! Got it!" Gohan exclaimed happily, blushing at the looks his out burst had caused. "Vlam where did Mergulho go? …Uh Vlam?"

"Hmm?" Vlam's gaze turned from where ever it was looking and she blinked at Gohan as she tried to rewind in her mind what she had heard but not listened to. "Oh, Mergulho… I got him sent back to the prison in Otherworld, it's where he belongs, hasn't adapted at all to earth for thousands of years, he'd screw everything up…" she said rather absently, still thinking on what ever train of thought Piccolo's explanation had started. Her eyes unfocused and she started frowning at the wall again. Everyone blinked at her, and waited to see if she would come back to reality any time soon.

Shrugging and realizing she wouldn't explain anymore unless she was prompted to do so Dende asked, "Why was Dabura there Vlam? What did you need him for?"

"Um, I needed him because he's… Hold on one second please Dende-sama," she said holding up a finger and turning to Piccolo with a serious expression on her face. "Let me see if I have this right. The Green Brother that I knew split into two people; one was the Kami-sama of Earth and reigned from after Old King Kami's death until Dende took over. The other was your father, the complete opposite of the Kami-sama."

Piccolo gave Vlam a suspicious look, "as far as that goes, yes." what the hell is she up to? 

"And your father died, passing all of his obligations to you." Piccolo snorted slightly at this obvious statement. Vlam opened her mouth to say something, and then stopped, her mouth remaining open for a few moments. Her eyes refocused on Piccolo and with careful deliberation asked, "What was your father's name?"

Piccolo raised an eye ridge slightly, "The same as mine, Piccolo Daimyo."

Vlam gave her head a shake, "Not that name, his Name, his title, the official usage."

"The Demon King, why?"

"And you were his only surviving issue at the time of his death?"

Piccolo's scowl grew deeper, "What exactly are you getting at?"

Vlam rose up on her knees, leaning closer to him, "Just answer the damn question!" she hissed into his face.

"As far as I know and can remember, yes."

"Bastard. Moron… Idiot!" Vlam muttered to herself as she flopped backwards, leaning against the wall behind her. Banging her head softly against it in time with a hissed 'stupid' to herself. Slowly she increased in volume and force, stopping when she reached a medium shout. There was a small crater in the wall and dribbles of plaster on the floor. Very slowly she turned around to glare at Piccolo. Every one stared at her buggy-eyed. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"That isn't the sort of thing you just toss out in casual conversation," Piccolo snapped back at her, "What did you expect me to do? 'Oh by the way my father was evil incarnate and killed twenty five percent of the Western Capitol, isn't that just ducky?' I didn't notice you offering any tidbits about what the hell you were doing, and besides I was trying to kill you. I'm still planning on it by the way."

Vlam snarled and started towards Piccolo, her hands clenched into claws. Gulping Dende glanced between Vlam's murderous and Piccolo's pugnacious expressions. Panicking he interjected in a high pitched squeaky voice, "You haven't finished why you needed Dabura in the first place!"

Vlam glared at Piccolo for a few more seconds then turned to Dende with a smile that seemed more like a grimace. Speaking carefully through clenched teeth she hissed "I needed Dabura because he is a demon king, specifically the king of the Otherworld to which I needed to send Mergulho. In order to forcibly transmit a rogue you need the backing of a demon king. _Any_ Demon King. If the king in question was the ruler of the domain to which the demon is home to then the demon does not have to be subdued for transport and all of it's ties to it's home can be cut." Vlam bared her teeth in an awful grin at the shocked faces of Dende, Caduta, Pingo, and Gohan. She pointedly did not look at the stunned namek beside her. "For instance the great green beanpole could have waved the hand he wasn't using to pull his head out of his ass and the damned demon would have been gone!"

Vlam tossed her hands up and flopped backwards again, hitting the wall with a thump, her temper burned out. Slowly a sad expression crept over her face. As Dende and the rest blinked in shock at Vlam, Piccolo began putting together the sentences into a coherent meaning. His face changed from mildly shocked and aggravated to a snarl. Vlam turned towards him with a tired expression as he growled out a denial, "I am _not_ a Demon King! I am _not_ my father!"

Vlam shook her head at him, "I'm sorry. I really am," she said as she looked at him with a doubtful and apologetic expression, "but you inherit more than you expect. Sins of the father, karma and all that crap. The mortals inherit broken china, and the gods get dusty shrines. You, well, you've got hell on Earth." Vlam sighed and patted the gaping namek on the shoulder. "Look at it this way, it can only get better from here right?"

Author: O.o, what twisty things can I do along the lines of Picc being a demon? I have a twist planned for next chapter as well, so don't worry; you're supposed to be confused. Even the characters are supposed to be confused. ^_^ 


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